Behruz Souresrafil is an anti-IRI commentator whose program has been well known to Iranians both in Iran and in the United States for a long time. He is currently seen on Pars TV, but became a fixture years ago in the LA Iranian opposition when his broadcasts were shown on the now defunct Azadi TV channel.

Souresrafil's interpretations of Iranian political affairs are always interesting, but his take on the announcement that the IRI and the US will soon hold talks to discuss the issues in Iraq was especially provocative. This event is being presented in the mainstream media as an American initiative presented by Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador to Iraq. Souresrafil insists that it was really an Iranian initiative mediated by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the chairman of the Supreme Islamic Revolutionary Council of Iraq. Souresrafil sees al-Hakim as an Iranian agent. It has been reported in the mainstream press that the Iranian agreement to the talks came as a response to a public request from al-Hakim that Iran accept Khalilzad's proposal for the talks.

There is much more. In this fascinating monologue (very much like the other ones he does every day on his program) Souresrafil uses the Persian term tir-e khalas zan to refer to President Ahmadinezhad. This is language that casts him in the mold of a Darth Vader, a "death-shot shooter" or "shooter of the finishing round". He got this nickname (often shortened to tir-e khalas) because as a revolutionary guardsman, long before becoming president, he is said to have been responsible for personally shooting many prisoners in the head; these unfortunates were people who had been deemed unfit to live by someone a little higher in the IRI hierarchy, but Mr. Ahmadinezhad is said to have considered the task an honor.

Mr. Souresrafil is difficult to translate. He talks very, very fast, sometimes in fragmented sentences, and his train of thought sometimes juts away from the main line at odd angles, but for anyone with an interest in another view of the ins and outs of this affair, I have done a translation of the broadcast:

click here

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